DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda called on non-Muslims especially in the United States to convert to Islam and abandon their 'misguided' ways or else suffer, according to a video tape posted on a Web site on Saturday.

The speaker was identified as Azzam the American, also known as Adam Yahiye Gadahn -- an Islamic convert from California wanted for questioning by the FBI and who U.S. authorities believe to be involved in an information campaign for al Qaeda.

"To Americans and the rest of Christendom we say, either repent (your) misguided ways and enter into the light of truth or keep your poison to yourself and suffer the consequences in this world and the next," Gadahn said in English.

He appeared in the video dressed in a white turban and seated in front of a computer and books.

Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawhari made a brief statement at the beginning of the tape -- dated September 2006 -- urging viewers to listen carefully to the message, entitled: "An Invitation to Islam".

The "Azzam" Threat: A prelude to Future Jihad in America
By Walid Phares

PS: This is a short version posting. The longer version will be posted later.

The video tape issued by al Qaedas as-sahhab production, in which Ayman Zawahiri introduces Jihadist Adam Gahdan to the world as a senior speaker to the American people on behalf of the movement, should be taken seriously. Not necessarily at the level of detecting the next Terror attack but at the level of understanding this prelude to Future Jihad both in America and within the West. I wasnt surprised at all by the 45 minutes elaboration by convert Gahdan regarding all of the issues he raised. For Azzam al Amrikee is the clearest specimen of Jihadisms second generation within the US, in as much as the 7/7 videos revealed the type of future Jihadists for Great Britains second generation. However, when one would listen carefully to the taped video, youd find a treasure of knowledge and indicators for the current state of thinking of al Qaeda and its ideologues. In short it is a sample of what is on the mind of Salafi Jihadists for the United States and the West. Following are few of the issues I noted:

1) The hand behind the message

In short, Azzams videotaped message is indeed American. Experts have heard it in US and Canadian cities and internet is flowing with it. Whether Gadahn was reading from a prompter or not and I believe he was with great skills- I tend to believe that such a speech rather than being dismissed as mere propaganda- is a message coming to us from whats already inserted inside America, which leads me to the second point

2) Who is it destined to?

It is basically addressed to those who will carry a Jihad in America, possibly asserting Adam Gahdan as their leader. Also, this is a very intelligent move to pierce the linguistic shield of Americas media and reach US citizens directly, as a way to spread confusion at least among those who have a hazy understanding of the Jihadists.

3) The ideological platform

In short, the Azzam video reconfirms clearly, in an English language that academic translators wont be able to distort, that al Qaedas movement worldwide and in the United States is seeking total annihilation or conversion of the enemy: American and other democracies.

4) Argumentation tactics:

The speech writer, emulating many commentators on al Jazeera or al Manar, hopes to rally many among those who hate Bush and Blair but stops short of stating that Jihadism will hate all future US Presidents and British Prime Ministers if they do not convert. He reminds us of the Crusades, Inquisition, Hiroshima, and killings in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obviously, the writer skips the Genocides of Sudan, and the massacres of Algeria, the Kurds, Shiites perpetrated by Salafists or Baathists.

5) The enemies of Jihad in America

Sensationally but not unexpectedly, he name a number of intellectual-enemies in this country: Daniel Pipes, Steven Emerson, Robert Spencer and Michael Spencer. Rarely Jihadi Terrorists at this high level media exposure named symbols of their enemys intelligentsia. And in addition to experts named in the tape, Gadahn goes on a ferocious attack against American Tele-Evangelists and their media, showing the other type of foes al Qaeda is very upset with.

6) The friends of al Qaeda?

Azzam names sympathetic personalities for whom he has messages for action; He asks journalist Seymour Hirsh to reveal more than what was published in a New Yorker article on the War: Obviously an open call by al Qaeda to M Hirsch to resume the attack against the US War on Terror. Then Azzam turn to two British journalists and thank them for their admiration and respect for Islam encourage them to do the final step: Convert. He names British MP George Galloway and journalist Robert Fisk. But more troubling in Gadahns tape was his direct call to Jihadists within the US Armed forces to work patiently till the time comes and they should continue to aggregate while escaping the surveillance of their military authorities. This theme, which I covered briefly in Future Jihad, is of great concern to US national security. The Azzam speech brings further concerns as to the credibility of this threat.

7) The Al Qaeda offer: Conversion or fire

Azzams mission in this tape was to deliver a message. His bottom line is this: We the Jihadists- have you cornered everywhere and you are not going to win this war. His central message is typically Jihadic: Surrender, convert or the fire: Meaning war on Earth, all of it, and Hell fire after death.

****

This fascinating and revealing taped-speech bring the American public even closer to what lays ahead for this generation and the next one as long as the Jihadist ideology is spreading inside America and worldwide.

****

Dr Walid Phares is a Senior Fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and a visiting Fellow with the European Foundation for Democracy. He is the author of Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies against America.
September 2, 2006 07:28 PM

Islam is a Theocracy... a Quasi government masked as a religion...it should be outlawed world wide...having said this anyone who calls for this kind of takeover of our form of government in the US should be prosecuted for Treason...the attempted 'hostile takeover' of our country by a foreign government!

As I have been saying in this forum and others for two years...the 'Ottoman Empire' is alive and well...it did not cease to exist in the 1920's...Let the final Crusade begin!

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